Our Commitment

To our donors, supporters and the community

The Greek America Foundation is a non-profit corporation in the state of New York whose mission is to “preserve, perpetuate, and promote Greek culture and ideals.”

We accomplish this mission through three strategic programming areas: social and cultural events, educational scholarships, and charitable aid to Greece.

Our commitment to our donors, members and supporters is to continue to offer relevant and compelling programming, maintain the utmost transparency and ensure the future viability of this organization for the future.

RELEVANCE

In the past 10 years we’ve built an impressive track record. But we are committed to doing more by staying true to our mission and engaging the next generation of Greek North Americans and beyond with activities and programs that are relevant to our mission statement.

Everything we do will be consistent with our core values of philanthropy, the pursuit of excellence, philotimo, innovation and education.

TRANSPARENCY

At the direction of our Board of Directors, 15% of each donation goes to support the administrative operations of the organization. This percentage is consistent with national averages and benchmarking for academic institutions and nonprofit organizations.

Donors are often rightly concerned about how much of their charitable donation goes to “overhead;” recent research has shown that donors and nonprofits both benefit when a non-profit has a well-funded administration. Under-funded non-profits struggle to provide consistent results and transparent metrics of success.

Our aim is to be fully transparent about our goals, outcomes, and finances and all relevant forms and financial documents will be posted on this page when they are available.

SUSTAINABILITY

The Greek America Foundation has a long term goal to build two endowment funds to ultimately allow the programs of the organization to run in perpetuity.

The Scholarship Endowment Fund goal is $10,000,000 which will be enough to fund 40 annual Semester in Athens scholarships. This endowment fund is currently funded by families wishing to memorialize or honor family or loved ones with scholarships in perpetuity.

The Operations Endowment Fund goal is also $10,000,000 which will sustain the annual operations of the organization in perpetuity. A portion of our members’ dues are automatically applied to this fund, as are some of the proceeds from our major events.

We are grateful for the ongoing support of Greek Americans and Philhellenes throughout North America who share our commitment to preserving and perpetuating Greek culture and ideals.

Your commitment to us makes all of this possible not only because you recognize the value and necessity of these ideals in today’s world but because you are dedicated to sustaining them. Together, we can ensure that future generations will have a living connection to their heritage.

Chrysovalantis Kefalas

It’s no secret that the Greek America Foundation had a profound effect on my life. It took just one night in Chicago about three years ago, almost to the day, to give me the courage, strength, and conviction to take on a public role for equal rights. The Foundation is having that type of impact with every event and with every new connection, to paraphrase RFK, creating tiny ripples of hope and those ripples build a current that creates an environment, a more Greek America, where dialogue, innovation, leadership is cultivated and promoted; where philotomo, philanthropy, and philoxenia are prized and inspired; and where ideas become action that change not just a community but lives and the world.

Peter Karmanos

We are proud supporters of the Greek America Foundation's scholarship endowment fund, which is a smart way to ensure that these scholarships can continue in perpetuity. Too many Greek (and even non-Greek) organizations think only day-to-day or month-to-month; they think how they will raise enough funds to last for the next year or so, without a long-term vision for the future. The scholarship endowment fund offers me confidence that scholarships will continue in perpetuity.

ABOUT US

The Greek America Foundation is a New York-based non profit organization founded to promote, preserve and perpetuate Greek culture, history, heritage and ideals in North America.